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Some employees are so incensed by their work that they are encouraged to quit in some of the most abrasive ways.
For example, HR Grapevine previously reported on one employee who told her manager that she wouldn’t be returning to work in a ‘sorry for your loss card’.
Another employee resigned from a supermarket job by grabbing the intercom and warning staff and customers that “nobody should work here, ever”.
The latest unusual resignation to have circulated the news was delivered by a disgruntled Starbucks employee who told his manager that he was quitting by singing an explicit song – Fox News reported.
In a video that later went viral, now former employee Anesti Danelis stood before customers and colleagues and sang a song that his ex-manager would never forget.
Danelis sang: “Dear manager, I’ve been working here for so long… I’ve got something I want to tell you, so I thought I would say it in a song.
“[Expletive] I quit, [expletive] this place, I quit. I don’t want to work for someone who treats their employees like [expletive].
He continued: “I found a way better job. Today was my last day, I know I got, like, 10 more shifts to work, but [expletive] it. I’m not going to show up to them anyways. And it feels so good to say I [expletive] quit.”
Video spectators said that the “final blow” to the coffee chain would be when the video went viral and attracted the attention of Starbucks’ upper management.
HR best practise
Whilst the format is unusual, most employers will know that employees want to share workplace gripes when they leave. This usually takes place in an exit interview.
Exit interviews are useful for gathering feedback that can be used to steer the business going forwards.
Kathy Allison, Global People Director at FitFlop, told HR Grapevine that exit interviews help FitFlop achieve one of the business’s core values: striving to continually improve company culture.
She explained that hosting post-employment debriefs can, and should be, executed in a way that makes the departing employee feel at ease. “We always hope there aren’t too many surprises as we gather feedback throughout each person’s time with us, but more data is never a bad thing.”
Outplacement support
Some employers may be keen to offer outplacement support to those employees exiting the business. This will help departing employees on their transition to a new job. While this isn’t obligatory for employers to offer, Ian Diment, Group HR Director at A F Blakemore & Son, told HR Grapevine that outplacement support, for him, is part of their obligation as a responsible employer.
“Employees will recognise that a company has invested in an external resource and although it could be done within the HR functions, to have a professional outplacement support is a winning formula for us,” he explained.
